Thursday, May 18, 2017
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Sheldon Cooper is arguably the centerpiece of The Big Bang Theory which has been the most successful TV sitcom in the world in the recent decade. Jim Parsons – who just got "married" (the quotes indicate that the verb is incorrect according to the conventions in which I live) – was getting the same $1 million per episode as "Leonard" and "Penny" but he's had a little extra X-factor.

It was therefore logical for CBS to build on his success. As I mentioned in March, Iain Armitage, a 9-year-old literary critic, became the filmmakers' boy of choice to star as the young Sheldon. The TV station chose the most obvious no-nonsense name for the new series that will actually compete against the 11th season of The Big Bang Theory, namely Young Sheldon. I would have recommended them the same title.

As the five-minute video above shows, Sheldon was quite a kid when this high school student was nine, in 1989, and he lived in East Texas. As the most brilliant TRF readers and writers may calculate, Sheldon Cooper was born in 1980 (plus minus one).

The religious environment of East Texas and his ordinary family with his religious mother and his generic classmates etc. were quite a typical background for the childhood of a genius like Sheldon. I am sure that the cute interactions of Iain with others remind many of us of something. I think that most of us who are reminded of something agree that Iain is cuter and much more outspoken than how we were as kids. This must be partly due to some protective hands that allowed young Sheldon to be this "overtly brilliant" as a kid. ;-)

Mature Sheldon, Jim Parsons, will be narrating the prequel but Iain will speak in his own voice as young Sheldon. Some voices have suggested that Iain should have been dubbed by Parsons as well, in order to increase the comical effect. Many actors are different, including mother Mary Cooper. The creators wanted to keep the genes so instead of Laurie Metcalfe who was TBBT's Mary Cooper, Young Sheldon's mother is Metcalfe's real-world daughter Zoe Perry. Simply clever. Sheldon's ethanol-enhanced father George Cooper (who died early) is played by Lance Barber who is weirdly known as the bully of Leonard Hofstadter from The Big Bang Theory.

The first episode of Young Sheldon should be aired either on September 25th 2017 after TBBT and the regular broadcast will continue from November 2nd. See Google News for journalists' takes.